Category: Personal Insights

In the mood for a cyclone

Apparently there’s a cyclone here, or is that an ex-cyclone?  So far not much bar some gusts and welcome rain.  Running from Titirangi up to Arataki this morning, it only took 500 metres, then I didn’t get any wetter.  One good thing about running in the rain is that once you’re wet, that’s it, you don’t get any wetter.

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If it’s cold that can matter, but this morning it was not too bad at all.  

For some reason it reminded me of being in Paris a year ago next month. Suddenly, the trip was fresh in my mind again and Hotel Coste was playing in the (now infrequently used) car. I feel a re-play of Midnight in Paris coming on.

It’s been exceptionally busy lately at work, with hardly a moment to reflect or for that matter, write a blog. And I’ve missed it. There’s something about writing down thoughts that is both therapeutic and insightful to me. A change in weather is like a change a pace, a chance to do something new, or in this case old, again.

So the outdoor umbrellas are down, the windows all closed but frankly, the cyclone hasn’t really (so far!) come to much that matches all the preparation and anticipation. But what it did do is makefor a change of pace, a chance to change direction, even for a day.

Thanks to a cyclone that put me in the mood. To write a blog.

Stephen

 

Celebrating success can be hard

I think I was one of only two people in the Koru lounge this morning who clapped when Oracle successfully defended the America’s Cup.  I was one of a handful who clapped when Team New Zealand crossed 44 seconds later.

Oracle had a stunning success. No doubt about it. Caught cheating, they paid the price for their crime which almost wiped them off the course.  Aotearoa was fast, very fast, and importantly faster than Oracle for the first week. But Oracle dug deep and made its boat even faster.

Would this have happened against the other challengers?  Probably not, Oracle would probably have won on their slower boat anyway.  You might think its a rich man’s sport, their toys on the world stage. Might be. The All Blacks aren’t playing a poor man’s sport,  but we don’t accuse them of the same.  Without the power of Team New Zealand and Oracle in competition we wouldn’t be seeing the technology, the innovation and the outright excitement of these boats.  Think of the Pumas in the Rugby Championship – there to get better from playing us.

My son Thomas graduated this week in a ceremony with 500 or so others.  All successful.  In different ways.  But Thomas was the most successful person there for me!  Well done mate!.  He drove himself to success by building higher steps to climb (and he’s got more going on now).

I hated and loved this America’s Cup all at once. I hated the stress of the last few days.  Hell! Their boat really is faster!  Oh no!.  But the beauty of the boats gliding, the work of the crews, Barker’s graciousness and maturity, that New Zealand was behind much of all of this, including Oracle’s boat and crew.  That’s success.  All of which we should celebrate.

I felt the grief of losing.  Felt for Barker actually. The shock, the anger, the resentment but then the acceptance and hope. Hope for more of the same, another America’s Cup please, but I’ll be promising myself to enjoy the moment as much as I enjoy the prospect of NZ winning.  That’s my little promise to myself.

What a journey. Got to enjoy it on the way.  Even if we can’t now, we will when we look back.

Humid as for Christmas

Even with a cool breeze running through the house it’s well over 80% humidity according to the dial in the hallway.  If you’re a parent of a young child you’d be sweating too, if you haven’t done the business by now and got a suitable collection of presents under the tree. It’s a festival for mid-winter for most of the world but we’re here in the most humid time of the year, with the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Evan apparently in our midst.

One of the Franklin Road houses has a big ribbon around it with words that make you look twice.  Today is the presentA colleague at work commented that they “couldn’t wait for Christmas”.  When I enquired what that was about, I was told it was the current pressures.  “Now is as good as it ever gets” was my reaction.  It always is.

Enjoying the present is very much part of Christmas, whether that be the wrapped sort or the real sort. Even for a cynic who looks forward to the end of the actual day so they can start enjoying a holiday, here’s an opportunity to really take stock of the present. Sweating it out with a hot roast here in Auckland can be tough, but don’t worry, those relatives won’t be here for long! Always waiting for the future is a trap. The present is our gift to ourselves.

Merry Christmas.

Stephen

Being 49

It’s a scam!  The whole year “I’ll be 50 next birthday” or “50 next year”.  Hell, whatever happened to being in my forties! That ended on turning 49 I’ve realised.  Wished I knew that then, but then again I guess I entered my forties a year early too. My Tim turned 20 this month, Dad turned 80 and my parents were married today 60 years ago. A card signed by Elizabeth R, another from the GG, one from the PM, one from the Minister of Internal Affairs (something not right about those words being involved in celebrating an honest and enduring relationship!) and finally Mum and Dad’s local MP. So a collection of cards, good wishes on Facebook and no doubt elsewhere and they will awake tomorrow in their 61st year of marriage, almost as irritatingly healthy as they’ve been for as long as I’ve known them!  Which is 49, well nearly 50, years, give or take a few years of not really knowing what’s going on.

So don’t hang around for too long not knowing what’s going on – that’s for when you’re 2 years old – not today, waiting for whatever is going on to be done to you. A milestone is a cause for others to celebrate a special person or people – to reflect on their achievements – and on all that they have brought into others lives. For my folks that’s quite a lot for quite a lot of people and I couldn’t be blessed with better parents. Not perfect, but then again who of us is, and whatever we’ve done if we’ve learned, grown and done our best to reconcile differences and appreciate blessings, we deserve to be happy.  And my Tim who has had all sorts of challenges, achieving an A- result in a paper made all those around him very proud, especially me. That’s one of the best things to celebrate in this month of milestones.  Well done Tim!

A milestone is also the moment to reflect on your own stuff. If you’re too busy to reflect I know what you mean. That’s pretty well me all the time.  But it’s also pretty well me most of the time to be happy too which is what I intend to take into my next decade – which starts with the next moment.

Which is of course all you really have. But those moments, taken, will guarantee you 20, 50, 60 or even 80 years of self-fulfilment. If you take them one at a time.  So being 49? Great actually. Now that I’m in the moment.

And happy celebration if that’s your thing too this month!  November? Lovin’ it as always.

Stephen